Puma Capital Group

Last week we were delighted to welcome students from Stoke Newington School for the 3rd year running for work experience with our team. The five outstanding students that joined us were given direct access to our business and the chance to explore their career options. Having been matched with the individuals and teams that matched their interests they spent time with our property finance, people and compliance teams. While also shadowing our senior team and experiencing everything our business has to offer. We rounded off the week by enjoying pizza on the rooftop with them so they could reflect on everything they have learnt throughout our time with us.       Social mobility is a key part of our wider DE&I strategy and we work hard to ensure that we are increasing access to financial services for those who may not otherwise have the opportunity. Our ongoing partnership with Stoke Newington School is part of our commitment to making steps towards achieving meaningful change in our sector. We’d like to say a big thank you to all of the students for their hard work, and we look forward to continuing this partnership by welcoming more students in the future!

Another moment to celebrate! 🏆 We thrilled to share that we’ve been ranked 49th out of 100 (medium category – all sectors) among the UK’s Best Workplaces for Women™ by Great Place To Work UK! In addition, we’re proud to say we’re the 2nd company ranked out of 7 within the FS and Insurance sector (medium sized). The companies recognised on the list have shown a commitment to: ⚖️ Ensuring a reasonable balance of women and men across the organisation. ☑️ Removing barriers to women’s career advancement. 💻 Creating workplaces where all employees, regardless of gender, can flourish. DE&I has long been at the heart of our business and we’re committed to building an inclusive environment so all our staff can thrive, irrespective of gender.  This is supported through events, partnerships, initiatives and extends to every part of the staff lifecycle. From blind recruitment, a healthy approach to learning and development (including inclusivity training run by qualified psychologists) to our flexible working policies. Our policies aim to support staff through all their lifestages including paid miscarriage leave, menopause support (education and financial support to get diagnosis and healthcare), plus a generous enhanced maternity and paternity leave. We have proudly maintained a balanced gender representation with a 50:50 ratio and within our 17 functions, 11 are led by women. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank our wonderful employees for helping to shape our company culture and for their anonymous feedback that helped us achieve this recognition. Over the past year we’re so proud to have been recognised as one of the Top 100 UK’s Best Workplaces in Financial Services & Insurance 2023 and one of the UK’s Best Workplaces 2024 (medium sized, ranked 70th).  Tarinee Wong Ivy Quan Sasha Ogg Cara Baxter

As a team we recently celebrated one of our favourite days in the Puma Capital Group calendar – our annual summer party! We kicked off the day by celebrating all the brilliant work that we have achieved across the business in our quarterly town hall meeting. Each quarter we choose one of our key values to focus on and this session’s theme was Value Creation. With updates from CEO, David Kaye and the heads of each business area we also celebrated our Values Champions, those members of the team who have been nominated by their peers for their continued commitment to demonstrating our core values. Congratulations to Rachel Turner, Niccie Riviere, Tom Preston and Joseph Cornwall, CFA, Chtd FCSI! We then enjoyed a wonderful BBQ lunch before heading to Regent’s Park for our annual Puma rounders tournament….which only got a bit competitive! Followed by delicious food, drinks and a spot of dancing at an amazing venue with views over London…a perfect way to round off the day! Thanks to Rachel Turner, Natalie H and Tarinee Wong for all the work that went into making the day so enjoyable and memorable for the whole team!  

Yesterday evening, over 25 of us from across the business were delighted to take part in the annual J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge (the world’s largest corporate running event) alongside thousands of runners in Battersea Park. The event which we’ve supported for a number of years raises vital funds for Centrepoint, the UK’s leading youth homelessness charity. We’re incredibly proud of our team of runners and walkers who completed the 5.6k distance around the park in their Puma t-shirts and it was great to celebrate together afterwards with a delicious BBQ. A huge thank you to Sasha Ogg for organising and corralling us all to take part in this wonderful event! We’re already looking forward to next year’s event! David Kaye Eleanor W. Katie Priddis Lucy Erikson Cora Thomas Rachel Brooker ACSI Maicy Winward Joe Millman Eliot Kaye Harriet Rosethorn Henri Songeur Sarah Milne Ryan Goodbrand Samuel Panagrosso Gavin Cross Joseph Cornwall, CFA, Chtd FCSI Rocco Versace Caragh O'Shaughnessy Karen Sullivan Tamrynne Willers Shane Ryan Emily Bourne

Last week we continued our Pride celebrations with our annual Pride party, this year on our new roof garden terrace! 🌈 🎉 We kicked off by watching the football with a stack of pizzas, then moved to the rooftop where we enjoyed rainbow drinks, glitter, a competitive game of bingo – expertly hosted by James Hempston – and raised funds for ELOP~LGBT Mental Health & Wellbeing Charity through our colourful raffle. ELOP is a charity that supports the mental health and wellbeing of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans communities. We also heard first-hand about the important work they do from Puma’s Sarah Milne, a long-standing supporter and trustee of the charity. Pride month is a time to celebrate but also reflect on our progress and the work that still lies ahead to ensure equality for the LGBTQ community. As the month comes to an end, we will continue to celebrate diversity and inclusion every day and promote a welcoming environment for all of our employees and the wider community. 

🌈 As one of the initiatives we are running during Pride month, we were pleased to welcome back Jude Guaitamacchi to host a session on ‘LGBTQ Allies Into Action‘’.   Jude is a passionate advocate and campaigner for the trans community. During the session, we learned about the challenges that the trans community are facing, what the community (and Jude) are doing to combat the misinformation and prejudice they are facing, and how wider support and allyship for this community is critical.    Some of our key takeaways were:   ☑ The trans community make up less than 1% of the UK population, however, are subject to disproportionate levels of scrutiny both in the media and in politics. ☑ Changing the conversation to be more focused on positivity for the community, Jude helped to create the viral ‘WithTheT’ campaign to galvanise allyship, bringing together the LGBTQ community in solidarity with the trans community, and made history by chairing the first all-trans panel in UK parliament. They also were instrumental in the ‘Trans People are loved’ campaign. ☑ Hate crimes against trans people sadly were at a record high last year, with some heartbreaking statistics like 78% of trans youth are bullied at school. Jude talked to us about many of the myths that surround the trans community and how they impact public opinion. ☑ We learned about the importance of allyship; how leaning into the difficult conversations and actions like sharing your pronouns, visibly showing the pride rainbow etc. make a real difference to people more widely in the LGBTQIA community, to let them know that you are a safe place and advocate for them.    We’d like to thank Jude for sharing their in-depth knowledge both from a lived and data-led perspective. The session was also useful for us all to be able to share our own views, ask questions and broaden our understanding in a safe and supportive space.

To kick off Pride month celebrations, we were excited to come together for a Pride afternoon tea, where we enjoyed a rainbow cake complete with a waterfall of rainbow chocolate on the inside! 🌈 This is just one of many events and initiatives we will be putting on throughout the month to celebrate the LGBTQIA community and take time to reflect on the progress that has been made, as well as the change that still needs to happen. Although June is officially Pride month, we continue to celebrate diversity and inclusion every day as we truly believe that meaningful change cannot be made from one-offs, but instead an ongoing commitment to promoting a welcoming environment for all. #Pride2024 #Inclusion 

Celebrating another moment of pride! 🏆 We’re incredibly excited to share that we’ve ranked 28th out of 100 among the UK's Best Workplaces for Development™ 2024 (medium sized) by Great Place To Work UK! Supporting employee development is a key part of our company culture so it’s an honour to be featured on this list. We take a holistic approach to development that focuses on individual growth, investing heavily in each member of our team as individuals rather than as a collective. This can range from technical qualifications to tailor-made workshops to enhance personal and professional effectiveness. We are also proud to invite external speakers to talk to us about a wide range of topics such as social mobility and neurodiversity, while sharing their lived experiences. We also believe personal growth can be just as valuable outside of the workplace, so we offer all of our staff an annual Personal Development Grant to pursue a hobby or skill which can be anything from horse riding to life drawing! We’d like to take this opportunity to thank our wonderful employees for helping to shape our company culture and for their anonymous feedback that helped us achieve this recognition. And a big shout out to our incredible leadership team for always upholding our values and encouraging their teams to thrive. David Kaye Tarinee Wong Paul Frost Rupert West Eliot Kaye Stuart Rollason Andrew Burt Erica Drepaul Katie Priddis Rachel Stansfield, CFA Tej Shah Amy Coburn Nick Brillus Ellie Kakoulli There has been a huge amount to celebrate over the last year as we’ve also been recognised as one of the Top 100 UK’s Best Workplaces in Financial Services & Insurance 2023 and one of the UK’s Best Workplaces 2024 (medium sized, ranked 70th).

To support this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week theme of ‘Movement: Moving more for your mental health’, some of us got together this week to get our steps in and have a go on the dancefloor!   Our very own Philip Payandee DipPFS has reached the final of Dance Floor Heroes (Strictly Come Dancing for the public) and will be performing at the infamous Blackpool Tower this summer. To support Phil and help raise funds for Tia’s Crown – the incredible charity behind the competition – some of us joined Phil on the dancefloor at Pineapple Studios to get involved in a ballroom and latin class with professional championship dancer Ali Slinger. The class is designed to boost mental health and wellbeing through dance, a key focus of Tia’s crown. 💃 🏃♀️ We also gathered at lunchtime and enjoyed a glorious, sunny walk around St James’s Park (we’re incredibly lucky to have such a lovely space by our offices!). Encouraging movement is something we do as a business all year round – from our social clubs, including boxing sessions run by hannah beharry Former No1 UK and European boxer 🥊 to our running club, as well as taking park in the JPMorgan run, and not forgetting our ongoing step challenge leaderboard.   We also put on a big healthy breakfast spread in our offices this week, having been fortunate enough to welcome The Gut Stuff Co-Founder Alana Macfarlane Kempner for a session recently on better understanding the link between our guts, eating well and our wellbeing. 🍓 🍍

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week 2024, with the theme of, “Movement: Moving more for our mental health”. Mental wellbeing is an ongoing focus within our business all year around and forms one of the key pillars of our Kintsugi wellbeing programme. Some of our ongoing initiatives in this space include: ✅ Our partnership with Ripple Suicide Prevention Charity, the suicide prevention tool (we are proud to be the first financial services organisation to adopt this wonderful tool) ✅ Fundraising for our charity of the year Campaign Against Living Miserably ✅ Ryan Parke blew us away with his powerful and myth-busting presentation on ‘The Science of Male Mental Health’ ✅ Our YuLife partnership encourages our staff to take up meditation, walking and other physical challenges on a regular basis (top spots on our step leaderboard are highly coveted!) ✅ 96% of our staff believe they are able to take time off from work when they think it’s necessary (Great Place To Work UK employee survey) ✅ Group and one on one sessions offered with the Sleep Scientist Sophie Bostock, PhD ✅ Ongoing professional support through our Bupa membership As part of this ongoing commitment to providing a safe space for staff and making support accessible to everyone, we are proud to announce we will be offering the opportunity for our staff to qualify as Mental Health First Aiders and become a certified MHFAider® to better support their colleagues. The course will give our staff volunteers the tools and knowledge to carry out the role, from spotting signs of people experiencing poor mental health to being confident in starting conversations built around the Mental Health First Aid action plan and providing appropriate support. And to further support this year’s theme of movement, we are very excited to be hosting two exciting and unique one-off sessions open to all of our staff. More to come on these later in the week! #MomentsForMovement #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek Mental Health Foundation